Small Solar Rising Again, Few Big Plants on Horizon

As federal subsidies in Europe and the US contract, lenders are wary of risks, panel prices are falling further, and utilities are less interested because of low natural gas prices, small solar projects between 1-20 megawatts (MW) are the way to go.

Small solar projects are much cheaper and come online quickly. And investors don't have an appetite for large solar plants right now, Jonathan Weisgall, vice president of MidAmerican Energy Holdings told The Desert Sun.

Small projects can be sited right next to a substation and feed right into the grid - no new transmission needed. And permitting is much faster and easier. It can take years to get a permit to build on public lands and can cost millions in environmental mitigation costs.

Developers still need upfront capital though. The biggest hurdle right now is financing.

It's interesting how quickly industry dynamics can shift. For the past few years, utility-scale projects dominated, and even recently proved how beneficial they are to investors. Suddenly, few people see many more of those big plants going up anytime soon.